Dems fight U.S. Chamber of Commerce by going local

McCaskill also aligned herself with an effort by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce to loosen air pollution rules, sided with St. Louis-area homebuilders to overhaul labor regulations and invited the Troy Chamber of Commerce to the March meeting with the Democratic Steering Committee.

The U.S. Chamber is competing to win over the local chambers. Political Director Rob Engstrom says he’s engaged in the most aggressive campaign in the trade group’s history to get local and state chambers involved in federal elections. Engstrom told POLITICO last month that he expected from 40 to 50 chambers to endorse candidates in federal elections this cycle, up from 16 in the 2010 cycle.

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Latoff added, “Over the last several years, state and local chambers have overwhelmingly stood up to hostile anti-business policies from Washington, D.C. From card check to ‘Obamacare,’ the state, local and national business community has been under unprecedented threat from Washington. And they have acted. From holding town hall meetings and communicating with their membership to coming to D.C. to speak with their representatives, they have made their voices heard loud and clear.”

The U.S. Chamber’s efforts have been successful in some instances. Wisconsin and North Dakota chambers were listed as “sponsors” of February ads the national group paid for in those states.

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce President Kurt Bauer said the issue advocacy for his group, which is the statewide chamber and manufacturers association, is an important part of its mission in educating the business community and the public about which candidates support business.

Still, he conceded that local chambers may have a different position because they act more as community groups and “don’t want to cross into that area because it can be controversial.”

And Senate Democrats are looking to take advantage of unaffiliated local chambers and businesses.

In February, Begich’s committee met in the Senate with the heads of a wide range of small businesses, including a jewelry manufacturer from Rhode Island, the Bank of Montana in Missoula, a health care technology company from Detroit and a highway contractor from Cape Girardeau, Mo.

The next month, Begich, alongside Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Sherrod Brown of Ohio — two Democrats who are up for reelection this year — held a conference call with 100 local businesses and labor unions to build pressure on House Republicans to adopt the Senate’s transportation bill. In this case, the U.S. Chamber and its local chapters were on the same page supporting the Senate plan.

Still, Democrats like Brown don’t try to hide their disdain for the U.S. Chamber’s campaign activities.

“They’ve become a totally political organization in Washington, and they’re out of touch with their members,” said Brown, who has already been a target of the national group.

Readers' Comments (8)

Are the Democrats this stupid? Do they really think that the local chambers are going to back them after they spent the last 3+ years destroying businesses? Not to mention they back the most Anti-business president in our history.

It seems like the only local chapters that are supporting these folks are the ones run by liberals......

The US Chamber of Commerce is not your friend. They have lobbied for years to make it easier to ship jobs overseas, undermine the regulation of dangerous industries and make the 1% financial crowd that much richer off the backs of working Americans. All this while the public is pretty much clueless about their actual intentions. I have told local business I won't do business with Chamber members and most don't even realize that it is a part of the GOP political operation. . . . But US Chamber of Commerce is going to have their moment and it won't be pleasant. Apple Computer picked at the scab but only a little. I see a Rush Limbaugh / Susan Komen in their near future and they US Corporations will realize by being a member they have lost more then half of their market in the US by being associated with this dishonest organization.

I am a small business owner myself but the US Chamber has done this to small business by getting into national issues where they do not belong. The GOP has and does the bidding for business not the US Chamber. The Dems don't expect any business large or small to vote for them. The strategy is that local consumers boycott local Chamber members then the local Chambers will tell the US Chamber to back off. It does hurt local business and the question for me is: Is it worth being a member of the local Chamber and lose business or not be in the Chamber and keep business. Part of the issue is what your business is/does. If it is dependent upon local business then the choice is obvious.

I am a small business owner myself but the US Chamber has done this to small business by getting into national issues where they do not belong. The GOP has and does the bidding for business not the US Chamber. The Dems don't expect any business large or small to vote for them. The strategy is that local consumers boycott local Chamber members then the local Chambers will tell the US Chamber to back off. It does hurt local business and the question for me is: Is it worth being a member of the local Chamber and lose business or not be in the Chamber and keep business. Part of the issue is what your business is/does. If it is dependent upon local business then the choice is obvious.

If Dems are allowed to take on lobbying groups, why are Republicans allowed the same privilege? The media bias and hypocrisy are growing unbearable. For example, if Bush were in office right now with Obama's record we would ceaselessly be hearing about the deficit and the spending and the war and the unemployment and the energy prices as if Bush were accountable for each and every one of these things. Liberals, you can't have it both ways. If Bush were accountable, so is Obama. The fact is that Obama can't run on his record. Instead the media aids him in distracting from his many failures in office with diversions on non-issues for the GOP like contraception, women voters, racism, and poking fun at good candidates with more successful records than Obama's own. I've had enough and I've heard enough.

I know the left is going to keep mocking the right even though the left presents no good options on solving our problems, but seriously, the economy is the most important issue facing us today. We are awaiting a debt implosion. Already we've been downgraded. Already our $15.5T deficit exceeds the entire GDP, and debt per capita exceeds that of Greece. The federal budget increases by 10% automatically each year, since the 1974 Budget Reform Bill allowed it, taking us away from baseline budgeting. This is regardless of revenue, regardless of federal necessity. No wonder the federal government spends $3T annually instead of $2T as in the budget! Even $2T is excessive. There isn't enough money to tax in the entire COUNTRY to make a dent in this deficit. Even taxing at 100%. We need serious reforms such as the GOP presents. And we need them now. Wise Democrats will jump on board if they hope to remain a party with any chance of prominence. Just because liberal media lies and ignores and mocks the truth doesn't make it any less true. We are doomed, and soon, unless we tackle these issues.

We need serious spending reform, serious program reforms, and responsibility in Washington to tackle this problem before it's too late and the debt implodes our country. At which point there will be no benefits to hand out. So far I only see the GOP willing to make these necessary adjustments. The Dems seem to be happy running off a steep cliff with eyes wide open while expecting to keep running at the bottom of it.